New Japan wrapped up their 2022 today with the second half of Road to TOKYO DOME, the final event of the year that also promised the final farewell to the Suzuki-gun faction after 11 years.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 1376, a legit advance sellout.
Match 1: Sho & Yujiro Takahashi beat Yuto Nakashima & Jado. Takahashi pinned Nakashima after Pimp Juice.
Match 2: Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii beat Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa. Ishii pinned Oiwa.
Match 3; Francesco Akira, Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat Ren Narita, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe. Akira pinned TM 4 after Fireball.
Match 4: Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Takagi pinned Togo after a sliding lariat.
Match 5: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Goto pinned Tenzan after Shoto.
Match 6: BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito beat Shota Umino, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Naito pinned Taguchi after Destino.
Match 7: Master Wato, Yoh & Kazuchika Okada beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo. Yoh pinned Gedo after Direct Drive. Afterwards, Akira laid out Yoh with Fireball.
Main Event: Suzuki-gun Farewell Match: DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki. Sabre pinned Suzuki after Zack Driver. Afterwards, all the members took turns sending messages of gratitude to Suzuki as the faction will now disband, but as the celebration wound down…look out, it’s CRAZY KOUZU! Takashi Iizuka returned with his signature entrance rampaging through the crowd to steal his iron fingers back from Taichi!
And with that, New Japan’s 2022 comes to a close as the 50th Anniversary celebration nears its conclusion. A year-long celebration wound down on a very somber note following the death of founder Antonio Inoki in October, just as rumors were breaking that Inoki was going to be named Lifetime Honorary Chairman despite distancing himself from the promotion and focusing more on his own rival IGF promotion. But he was always an important part of New Japan and always will be. But as is custom in NJPW, the end leads to the beginning…
The first event of 2023 is the biggest annual event in Japanese pro wrestling and the outside-US version of WrestleMania…WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 in TOKYO DOME, on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. Live streaming ONLY ON New Japan World in Japanese and English will begin on 1/4 at 1:30 AM ET in the east US, 1/3 at 10:30 PM PT in the west US. Make sure to sign up for New Japan World between 1/1 and 1/3 so you’re subscribed and ready to watch, it should only cost between $7.50-$8 US. And after that, come back for New Year’s Dash on 1/5 which will be available worldwide FOR FREE!
